One of the most significant changes Making Tax Digital brings is quarterly reporting. Instead of submitting a single annual tax return, landlords within scope of MTD submit four updates to HMRC every year, one for each quarter of the tax year. This guide explains what a quarterly update is, what it contains, when it is due, and how to approach it in practice.
A quarterly update is a summary of your property income and expenses for a three-month period. It is not a full tax return. It does not finalise your tax liability or trigger a tax payment. It is HMRC's way of receiving a running picture of your income throughout the year rather than waiting until the end.
Think of it as sending HMRC a three-monthly summary of your rental business, total income received and total allowable expenses paid during that period.
Quarterly reporting follows the UK tax year, which runs from 6 April to 5 April the following year. HMRC offers two schedules and you choose which fits your bookkeeping. SimplifyMTD lets you make that choice in Settings → Property Filing Obligations. UK and foreign property are chosen separately. You can change the choice until HMRC has received your first quarterly update for that property and tax year. After that, the choice is locked until the next tax year.
| Quarter | Income Period | Submission Deadline |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 | 6 April – 5 July | 7 August |
| Q2 | 6 July – 5 October | 7 November |
| Q3 | 6 October – 5 January | 7 February |
| Q4 | 6 January – 5 April | 7 May |
| Quarter | Income Period | Submission Deadline |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 | 6 April – 30 June | 7 August |
| Q2 | 1 July – 30 September | 7 November |
| Q3 | 1 October – 31 December | 7 February |
| Q4 | 1 January – 31 March | 7 May |
Submission deadlines are the same on both schedules — the 7th of the month after each quarter ends. HMRC is introducing a points-based penalty system for late submissions, so keeping track of these dates is important.
Each quarterly update contains summary totals for your property income and expenses during that period. You are reporting totals, not individual transactions, though you must have the individual records available in your digital records if HMRC requests them.
You report totals across the main expense categories. These typically include:
You do not need to break down every individual receipt, you submit totals per category. Your digital records should support those totals if needed.
Quarterly updates are intended to be best estimates, not final figures. HMRC understands that landlords may not have every receipt processed or every invoice reconciled by the deadline. The final figures are confirmed at the end of the year through the Final Declaration.
This means you can submit a reasonable estimate for a quarter and then make adjustments later. The important thing is to submit by the deadline, even if the figures are not perfectly final.
If you own more than one property and they are all held in your personal name, you submit combined quarterly updates. You add up the income and expenses across all your properties and report totals. You do not submit separate updates for each property.
Landlords who hold some properties in their own name and others through a limited company have separate reporting obligations for each. The company would have its own corporation tax obligations.
Once you submit a quarterly update, HMRC acknowledges receipt through your software. HMRC may provide a running estimate of your tax position based on what you have submitted so far, this can be useful for budgeting for your eventual tax payment in January.
At the end of the year you submit a Final Declaration, which is where you confirm the final figures, add any adjustments, claim reliefs, and report income that is outside MTD. That is when your tax liability is finally calculated.
HMRC's new points-based penalty system means each late submission earns one penalty point. Once you accumulate four points, a financial penalty of £200 applies. Further missed submissions incur additional £200 penalties. Points are removed after a period of compliant on-time submissions.
The key is not to let missed submissions pile up. If you are having difficulties, submitting late is still better than not submitting at all, as this limits the accumulation of penalty points.
SimplifyMTD is built to make quarterly submissions straightforward for landlords. It tracks your income and expenses throughout the quarter, calculates the totals, and submits the update directly to HMRC through a secure API connection. You can see your submission history, track upcoming deadlines, and review past quarters from one place.
The four-times-a-year rhythm becomes routine quickly, most landlords find that once they have set up their digital records and made their first submission, subsequent quarters take very little time. See our frequently asked questions for more detail, or visit the SimplifyMTD homepage to get started.